Elie and Oprah at Block 11

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At Auschwitz I, the notorious Dr. Josef Mengele, known as the Angel of Death, conducted sadistic medical experiments on prisoners, infecting them with diseases, rubbing chemicals into their skin and performing crude sterilization experiments in his quest to eliminate the Jewish race by any means possible.

In Block 11 (above), the secret German police, the Gestapo, interrogated and tortured political prisoners and anyone who dared to disobey. Professor Wiesel and Oprah lay flowers at the wall where thousands of prisoners were shot and killed.

"At least they had individual deaths—even this becomes a privilege," Professor Wiesel says. "Here, actually, death was a release because it followed the torture."